308 w/165 SST

[Pyscodog]

Working a load for one of my 308's and thought I would use the Hornady 165 grain SST. My buddy says not to as they aren't a good bullet for deer. Seems to me they should work fine on a Oklahoma Whitetail. Any of you use them with good or bad results. Where I hunt we don't exactly have monster bucks.

 

[archerforkids]

I run those in a 180 grain. 7/8" groups at 200 yards. I'm using Benchmark powder. Only running about 2575 FPS if I remember correctly. Disappointed in the speed, but I'll take a slow hit over a fast miss any day. That and I have about 8# of that powder on hand.
I dropped an 8 point last year at 175 yards. He ran 20 yards and folded like a cheap lawn chair. Following morning dropped a 150 poundish hog at 340 yards. Damn near took his head clean off. Aimed low behind the ear. Hit a tad behind that.
That bullet does fine in a 180. Bet the 165 does the same

 

[Loudenboomer]

We've had excellent results with the 165 SST in the 308 Winchester. Don't know why a friend would say it's not a good deer bullet. I would say it's not particularly stout. Don't think I'd trust it at 300 magnum speeds on moose or elk but that's not what we're talking about here.

 

[Pyscodog]

He said it blew up on deer but he also says Berger bullets ricochet bad to. LOL

 

[john 800]

I shot a deer last year with 165 ssts out of a 308 with just below book max loads, here is my experience:
My first shot was broadside and quartering very slightly towards me. He was about 65 yds away amd I didn’t think he was quite that close so the shot ended up just barely clipping the top of one lung high and forward (thats on me, not the bullet) after searching and tracking we jumped him and the only shot i had was sharply quartering away from the deers left rear from about 15 feet away. The bullet went in the right thigh, through guts, liver, lungs, right shoulder and ended up under the hide perfectly mushroomed after penetrating almost tge whole deer. I would have zero reservations using them on a deer at 308 speeds. My brother shot a doe broadside a few years ago at about 20 yds with a 150 sst from a 3006. The bullet penetrated both lungs but stopped under tge hide on the offside, and the deer went right down, and thats a 150 going faster
Ill see if I can dig out the bullet and pist a pic of it when I get home later.

 

[Michshooter]

They are a great bullet at .308 velocity.

Keep them under 3000fps and your good to go.

 

[Coyotefurharvester]

Use those in my 30TC @ 2800+ for elk(bull and a cow), they have went thru near shoulder(125,185 yards) and 105,112 grs under hide opposite side. So yes I think just fine for whitetail.

 

[Pyscodog]

I loaded some this evening. Weather permitting, I'll shoot them tomorrow.

 

[Kurz]

My buddy says not to as they aren't a good bullet for deer.

It's extremely difficult to form a consensus of opinions these days. Lots of opinions and situations where you can't be sure it wasn't the shooter's fault. Nobody likes to tattle on themselves when they make a mistake and have to track down an animal after a poor shot. And yes, sometimes the bullet does fail for some odd reason.

I made the drive back to the upper Midwest for deer season one year because I wanted to camp by the Ontonagon and hunt the Cisco branch area. I stopped in town to buy my license at the hardware store and do all the little errands before finding a camp spot.

The owner knew me and thought I should see his newest acquisition, a Savage 99 in .300 Savage (rotary mag). It was in nice shape, unusual for rifles local to the UP, so it must have come into the store from out of town.

Long to shorter, he knew he had me so we did the deal and he threw in a box hunting ammunition 'just in case'. I didn't look closely but jumped in the truck to find someplace to camp.

The woods in the UP are thick where I like to hunt, so .30-30s are perfect. Open sights are excellent so I dug out the ammunition and read the box. Hornady .300 Savage with the 150 gr. SST bullets. Shrug. Not my first choice but after a little target practice, it was more than sufficient for this hunt.

One nice UP buck, no trophy but I hunt for meat anyway. The bullet entered just behind the left shoulder, took out the heart and stopped under the hide on the right side. Nice mushroom. I had tenderloin for dinner...

Go for it.

 

[cmysix]

don't worry about it, I love guys like your friend, 56 grain softpoint 5.56mm, 2850 decent buck 200 yards didn't take a step.

 

[3Sigma]

Work great on deer out of a 10 twist 308. I run them at 2650 fps from a 20" barrel. Taken two does with that setup, one at 70 yards quartering to me, through and through heart and rear lung, one shot.

Other was 270 yards, broadside, again through and through rear lung and clipped the heart with a fragment. One shot, dropped right there.

I wouldn't hesitate to use them. Pretty easy to develop a load as well.

 

[Hudge76]

I’ve used them in other calibers and they do what they are supposed to do. I have no problem using them on deer. Now that I live in AK, I use them for target practice only. I want a little better constructed bullet in case I run into a bear.

That being said, I do get a good laugh at people that complain about how the bullet performs, when it performs as it was designed to.

 

[deshultz1]

I used to shoot the 165 gr SSTs in my .300 Win Mag. Would shoot under 1.0 inches as long as I did my part. Super deadly on deer. Usually dead on the spot. Never recovered any of the bullets. Always made sure to shoot through the lungs/heart to avoid damaged meat. I now have a 7mm/08 AI and use SSTs in it as well.